North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Says Purge of Uncle Was ‘Correct Decision’

North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un said Wednesday that national unity had strengthened “by 100 times” following the purge of “counterrevolutionary factionalists” — an apparent reference to his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was executed last month for treason.

Kim’s comments, delivered in a lengthy New Year’s Day address, were his first since Jang was accused of plotting a coup and stripped of all his posts. Although Kim did not mention Jang by name, he described the purge as the “correct decision.”

Kim also said the North must be more vigilant in stamping out dissent and called for intensified ideological education for Workers’ Party members and citizens to “ensure that they think and act at all times and in all places in line with the Party’s ideas and intentions.”

North Koreans “should wage a vigorous struggle to stamp out any sort of alien ideology and decadent lifestyle that may undermine our system,” Kim said.

The acknowledgment of potential dissent is noteworthy because the Pyongyang government has for decades used its propaganda to project a sense of unquestioned loyalty to the Kim family. Some analysts say that under Kim, the North has abruptly abandoned that kind of mythmaking and is instead highlighting the punishment that disloyalty will bring.

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